SOVIET STRATEGIST NOW HEAD OF ARMY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 260, 3 November 1941, Page 7

SOVIET STRATEGIST NOW HEAD OF ARMY

STAFF CHANGES

New Offensive Expected On Moscow Front U.P.A. and British Wireless. Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, Nov. 2. Marshal Boris Shaposhnikoff has been appointed Chief of the Russian General Staff. He was Chief of Staff until some months ago, when he resigned owing to ill-health, after which General Zhukoff was appointed Chief of Staff and held the position until he was appointed chief of the Moscow defences. Marshal Shaposhnikoff has now been recalled to his former post. He is considered to be Russia's foremost strategist. Messages from Kuibyshev (Samara) announcing Marshal Shaposhnikoff's appointment further report "that Marshals Voroshiloff and Budenny are forming reserve armies, Marshal Timoshenko having succeeded Marshal Budenny in the Ukraine. The Germans are reported to be bringing up reserves on the Moscow front, and a new offensive is expected there very soon. This is probably due to the improvement in the weather, which recently has become colder, thus making the new snow less impassable for mechanical vehicles.

_ The Germans' four weeks' offensive against Moscow has "achieved small results, and they suffered great losses," in the words of the Soviet spokesman, M. Lozovsky, at Kuibyshev. He said the great concentrations of tanks launched on October 2 had now been checked in the vicinity of Volokolamsk, Mojaisk, Male* yaroslavets, Tula and Oreal, while in some sectors the Russians were counter-attacking. The capital was preparing for the worst. The streets were being barricaded and tank obstacles had been erected. On the southern front the Germans were paying heavily for each .forward step. The advance between Taganrog ana Rostov seemed to have been stopped, but fierce fighting continued by night there as well as In the Crimea.

There is no comment from the Russian side on the German claim to have reached the Jaila mountains in the Crimea and to have captured Simferopol.

Press messages from Kuibyshev state that M. Kalinin, chairman of the Presidium of Supreme Soviet, has joined M. Molotoff and, other members of the Government there, but M. Stalin still remains in Moscow. Compulsory military training for all male residents in Kuibyshev has been introduced, along with other measures, to strenghten the wartime organisation of this seat of part of the Government s* 13 well as the entire hinterland.

Red Air Force Attacking A Russian communique received early to-day states: "During Saturday our forces waged battles with the enemy on all points. Five German planes were Drought down near Moscow during the day. In the central and southern sectors 50 German tanks, several hundred lorries of ammunition and numerous guns have been captured and enemy ammunition dumps set on fire. Our troops inflicted heavy casualities on enemy infantry and cavalry units."

Asserting the German drive against Moscow is slackening, the Moscow newspaper Izvestia says that for the third day there has been a comparative lull. The enemy at one point launched an offensive, but was badly mauled. In a battle extending for six days a German infantry division lost over 600 men. The division twice received reinforcements, yet several battalions had only a hundred men left. Two infantry regiments lost 80 per cent of their effectives. Izvestia adds the view that their serious losses are increasing the difficulties and the morale of the German army is falling off.

Marshal Boris Sthaposhnikoff

The Moscow radio claims that the German offensive at Volokolamsk has been brought to a standstill. The Russians have consolidated strategically favourable positions.

Hitler has mobilised all his military resources for a tremendous "final assault" against Moscow, Rostov and the Crimea, states an earlier message. Trains packed with troops and materials are leaving German railway stations in an apparently endless stream, reports the Stockholm correspondent of the Daily Express. Thousands of lorries crowd the roads leading eastward, and all available aircraft, regardless of type, are flying or being transported to Russia. The correspondent of the Times on the German frontier says the Germans claim virtual possession of the whole of the Donetz Basin, having arrived at the Donetz River on a broad front in force. Russian reports, however, indicate that Marshal Timoshenko is systematically withdrawing his forces, and therefore there is little mention of the fighting from either side. The Red Star said a very grave situation had developed at Chistyakovo, 40 miles due east of the town of Stalin. The Germans, with superior forces, were very close to Chistyakovo.